"There are not many cities our size that can claim to have 11 pieces by the London Police floating around the city, so losing a big one is a big deal,” Ritter said.

The London Police did paint a number of murals around the area, including a piece work News 5 profiled at the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky airport, and a partially finished piece at Dick's Liquor at 4th and scott.

Manager Charlie Herrmann says people notice the uniqueness of what he calls "The Goofy Dog."

"It would have been fun to see what they wanted to do with it,” he said.

The artists released a statement to WLWT News 5, which read in part “The nature of street art is that is has a limited life span and doesn't appeal to everyone. Hey, that’s fine with us. We understand it’s not to everyone’s tastes. Our aim is to share a little bit of love and make people look and smile. Nothing more.”

“Sure we are disappointed but what is done is done. We are flattered that people care so much about the artwork we made in the city of Covington … The response was overwhelming and we can't wait to come back.”

As for the Cork-N-Bottle coverup, the store said on Facebook that "We understand and sincerely regret the hurt that the removal of the art mural has caused our community. We acted out of a concern of a Maker’s Mark copyright violation – which we feared might affect our relationship with a key supplier."

The artists admitted their work was styled like the Maker’s Mark bottle.

A city spokeswoman told WLWT News 5 that the city is “(a) supporter of art and sad to see art go," but that a private business can do what it wants.

Ritter says he wishes something could have saved it.

"For big name artists to come to the city of Covington is pretty unusual, it's really special, so I’m disappointed more than anything," he said.

Making this even harder for Ritter, one of B.L.D.G.'s other owners, Mike Amann, died of cancer Sunday, one day before the artwork he loved was painted over.

The store said it would be making a donation to the American Cancer Society in Amann's name "in furtherance of our sincere apologies."